Attenborough makes first trip to North Pole at 83

LONDON: Veteran British wildlife broadcaster Sir David Attenborough has reached the North Pole for the first time at the age of 83, the BBC said on Saturday.

The naturalist and presenter made it to the top of the world while filming in the Arctic Circle for a new BBC nature series highlighting the impact of global warming on the Earth's extreme regions.

Attenborough, who also recently visited the South Pole, said: "The poles - North and South - look superficially very similar.

"But when you visit them within a few weeks of one another, as I have just done, you realise how profoundly different they are and how what is happening to them is going to affect the entire planet," he added.

"A century ago, the poles were just about the most inaccessible place on Earth. Today that has changed. Nonetheless, to have visited them both within a few weeks of one another is a huge privilege."

The BBC presenter, the brother of acclaimed actor Richard Attenborough, is famous for acclaimed nature programs including Life on Earth, The Living Planet and The Trials of Life.

Until now, most of his previous programs have focused on tropical parts of the world, he noted.

"Having seen what I've just seen, from penguins to polar bears, from the frozen ocean to snow-covered volcanoes, I can't imagine why I've left visiting these marvellous, astonishing and beautiful places until so late in my life."